missiletech
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Also, happy new beer!
Just ordered a carbonation stone. Carbonation in 20 minutes??? Any good?
- Thread starter Mike-H
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Happyhammer
Active Member
I thought I'd reply to this thread as it was the highest post from this forum on this subject in the google search I did.
I received my carbonation stone and lid today and have set it up as shown in the pictures below. I also looked for some instructions and found them here. Summary below:
Tube and 0.5 micron stone connected to disconnect on lid
Set at around 4psi for first hour, Perry temp 3.5C (38.3F)
I received my carbonation stone and lid today and have set it up as shown in the pictures below. I also looked for some instructions and found them here. Summary below:
"How to use this product:
Beer must be stored cold 34–40°F
Beer must be stored cold 34–40°F
1. Preboil the stone for 2–3 minutes before using. This assures you that your stone is sterile and any residual oils have been boiled off.
2. Sanitize the whole keg lid before submersing into your keg filled with beer.
3. Set your PSI on your regulator to 3–4psi and attach your gas in fitting to the body connect on the lid. Leave keg at this pressure for 1 hour.
4. Raise your pressure 2PSI per hour until you reach 10–12psi. Leave it at 10–12psi for 24 hours. Pour a pint and test the carbonation. If you think your beer needs more CO2 leave for another 4–6 hours and have another pint.
5. Remove carbonation lid after carbonation level is satisfactory. Return original keg lid for long term storage."
2. Sanitize the whole keg lid before submersing into your keg filled with beer.
3. Set your PSI on your regulator to 3–4psi and attach your gas in fitting to the body connect on the lid. Leave keg at this pressure for 1 hour.
4. Raise your pressure 2PSI per hour until you reach 10–12psi. Leave it at 10–12psi for 24 hours. Pour a pint and test the carbonation. If you think your beer needs more CO2 leave for another 4–6 hours and have another pint.
5. Remove carbonation lid after carbonation level is satisfactory. Return original keg lid for long term storage."
Tube and 0.5 micron stone connected to disconnect on lid
Set at around 4psi for first hour, Perry temp 3.5C (38.3F)
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tntpilsner
Well-Known Member
Well I just had to bump this thread. I ordered a carbonation (diffusion) stone today and will try it on my next batch. I'm not going to do all the flipping and gauges, I'm pretty frugal so it's the stone and 2' of hose being attached to the gas in tube. We'll see how it does.
dwightr8
Well-Known Member
I'm glad you bumped it or I would have missed it. I just ordered a lid with built in gas post and .5 micron carb stone. Kind of thinking out loud, but it seems like I could ferment in a keg and then use co2 through the stone to push the beer to an aging/serving keg thus transferring and carbonating in one step. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
505-Brewer
Well-Known Member
Step 5 is nonsense. Exposing beer to O2 and loosing volatiles. No thank you.
Pressure transfer to another keg then?
Robert65
Major Obvious (recently promoted)
IME the point of using a carbonation lid is that you don't have to transfer to a separate keg to serve, it provides a separate gas in post for the stone. If you carbonate using a stone on a tube attached to the regular gas post, then when you apply pressure dispense beer, the bubbles introduced cause massive gas breakout inside the keg. At the end of transfer you have flattish beer in the receiver, and a source keg full of foam which contains all your nice hop volatiles, and foam positive proteins, and such. With a carbonation lid, you carbonate with one gas post, then swith gas to the regular post to serve. Only problem is you need a carbonation lid for every keg, because yes, step 5 above is nonsense.
tntpilsner
Well-Known Member
I agree that you don't want to expose the beer to O2 any more than is necessary...
assuming you have a stone connected to your gas In line (which is what I ordered, before reading this thread), if you do bump up the pressure to 10-12 psi with the stone and achieve carbonation, could you just leave the stone in, assuming you want to serve this particular beer at 10-12 psi?
assuming you have a stone connected to your gas In line (which is what I ordered, before reading this thread), if you do bump up the pressure to 10-12 psi with the stone and achieve carbonation, could you just leave the stone in, assuming you want to serve this particular beer at 10-12 psi?
I can't find the post but somebody posted recently about doing just that and getting undercarbonated beer. The reason being that the carbonation stone has its own wetting pressure that you need to add to your regular pressure setting to actually achieve your regular pressure in the headspace. If you don't then you'll be actually serving with lower than usual pressure and hence undercarbed.
I believe most carbonation stones have a wetting pressure of around 4-5 PSI but YMMV depending on the stone.
I believe most carbonation stones have a wetting pressure of around 4-5 PSI but YMMV depending on the stone.
tntpilsner
Well-Known Member
Yep, I remember seeing some info on wetting pressure, thanks for the reminder!
dwightr8
Well-Known Member
Here's an article that explains it quite well:
Calculating Carbonation Pressure
To calculate our equilibrium PSI, we start with the wetting pressure. The wetting pressure is the PSI we need to produce bubbles on a carbonation stone when wetted. For most stones, this wetting pressure is between 2-8 PSI. To calibrate the stone, submerge it in water at the same orientation as it will be in the tank and slowly increase the PSI until bubbles begin to flow, record the PSI, then slowly decrease the CO2 until the bubbles stop completely. Record this last PSI reading and take the average of these two readings to determine your wetting pressure PSI.
Next, we need to determine the head pressure on the stone itself. The head pressure of the product on the stone will play a role in the pressure needed to carbonate. We start with the assumption that approximately every 28 inches of product will add 1 PSI of pressure against the stone. This PSI needs to be added to the wetting pressure to determine how much total pressure is required to begin producing bubbles inside of the tank. Every tank will be different, so this is merely an approximation and you may need to adjust slightly.
One you have your two pressure values and selected the desired CO2 volume of your final product, we can punch those values in the equation below and get the PSI output needed from your CO2 system:
Wetting Pressure + Head Pressure + desired Equilibrium PSI = Carbonation Pressure
As an example:
- Carbonation Stone Wetting Pressure = 3.0 PSI
- A 20 BBL Brite Tank w/ 18 BBLs (10% head space) that is 68 vertical inches of product, thus 68 in. / 28 in. = 2.43 PSI
- We have a dark Ale with a desired CO2 volume of 2.17 @ 45°F, thus we find an equilibrium PSI = 9
You may round up or down depending on your leanings or aim for a nice middle ground of 14.5.
(https://www.glaciertanks.com/carbonation.html)
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tntpilsner
Well-Known Member
Wow! Thanks so much!
